Neerja killers’ age-progressed photos released

Washington, January 12

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The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Friday released “age-progressed” photographs of four alleged hijackers charged with the 1986 hijack of Pan Am Flight 73 that killed 20 people, including Indian flight attendant Neerja Bhanot.

The alleged hijackers are Wadoud Muhammad Hafiz al-Turki, Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, Muhammad Abdullah Khalil Hussain ar- Rahayyal, and Muhammad Ahmed al-Munawar.

These images were created by the FBI laboratory using age-progression technology and original photographs obtained by them in 2000, a media release said.

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The September 5, 1986 storming of Pan Am Flight 73 which had landed in Karachi from Mumbai resulted in the killing of 20 passengers and crew, including two Americans, the attempted murder of 379 passengers and crew, and the wounding of more than 100 persons on board.

The Department of State Rewards for Justice Programme has offered a reward of up to $5 million each for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of the alleged hijackers.

Each of these individuals are believed to have been members of the Abu Nidal Organisation (ANO), previously on the US State Department’s list of designated Foreign Terrorist Organisations.

Each of them are on the list of FBI’s most wanted terrorists. Bhanot, who headed the attendants on the flight, lost her life while protecting the passengers. She was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra for her bravery. — PTI